Tencent Holdings, the company behind the popular WeChat messaging platform recently invested $736 million USD into New York-based 58.com., which ranks as China’s biggest, Craigslist-like online classifieds site serving local merchants and consumers. This investment is seen as largely a way to help Tencent combat Alibaba Group in the online-to-offline (O2O) retail space.
Alicia Yap, the head of China internet research at Barclays, said it was “highly likely that Tencent could offer and integrate 58.com services” on WeChat, which operates under the Weixin brand in China. Yap also believes 58.com will be developing “tailor-made” services that will be targeted directly at WeChat users.
58.com is based in Beijing and sells a wide variety of items, much like Craigslist. The content from the service is said to be highly compatible with smartphone platforms.
It’s always interesting to see services like this launch on the WeChat platform. It’s not clear whether this or other services will also make its way to the U.S., the UK, or other countries, but you never know. Would you utilize services like these if they were available? Tell us in the comments and join the discussion in the Forums!